Finding Beauty in Nanoscale

Recommend this story

November 11, 2013

The science of engineering materials, at the molecular level, oftentimes leaves researchers scouring nanoscale structures for minute signs of scientific significance. But, from time to time, they take a moment to step back and give us a rare look at the small wonders they’re so closely observing.

Scientific image competitions, like the National Science Foundation’s annual Visualization Challenge, present an opportunity for researchers to publicly reaffirm the link between scientific thought and creative expression.

While few of us have had the chance to view these materials through an electron microscope, they might still look pretty familiar. The “nano goldfish” created and imaged by Anasori, doctoral student Michael Naugib and Drs. Yury Gogotsi and Michel Barsoum earned a place on the cover of Nano Today over the winter.

More recently, an image from Dr. Craig Johnson, of Drexel’s Core Facilities, earned some acclaim from the company that produced the imaging technology with which it was captured. Johnson’s enhanced image of a decahedral gold nanoparticale won the materials science category of the 2013 Gatan Transmission Electron Microscope Image Competition. This colorful snowflake-like nanoparticle was originally imaged in 2008 using a transmission electron microscope produced by Gatan, Inc., one of the largest producers of instrumentation and software for enhancing electron microscopes.

“The image illustrates the bending of atomic planes in a 10-sided nanoparticle of gold. The decahedral geometry of the nanoparticle requires that the planes be bent to maximize structural stability,” Johnson said.

Prior to Johnson’s work, the internal structure of this nanoparticle had been observed only indirectly. Through a process called geometric phase analysis of transmission electron microscope images, Johnson was able to make the first direct measurement of the phenomenon. The colors were added to the image to delineate the degree of bending in the planes. The finding was also published in Nature Materials in 2008.